A man who was accused of 95 restraining order violations for allegedly phoning his ex-wife from jail more than 1,000 times will not face any of those charges after a ruling Wednesday determined his constitutional right to due process was violated.

According to his testimony in district court, a temporary restraining order was filed against Juan Anastasio “J.R.” Rodriguez in early 2016 while he was in the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. A hearing was set on Oct. 6 of that year to make the order permanent, which Rodriguez had requested to attend via video.

Rodriguez testified that on Oct. 4, he was abruptly transferred from Shelby to the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. During that move, Rodriguez repeatedly asked to make telephone contact with the court and was denied due to his security status at the jail and security concerns during transport.

Rodriguez claimed he did not contact the court in writing because the correspondence would take a week to arrive.

He also stated that once he arrived at Montana State Prison, he was told by officers that if the court contacted MSP, he would be notified and taken for his appearance.

According to court documents from that hearing, the court attempted to initiate video conferences with both the Crossroads and MSP facilities. Unable to get a response, the permanent order of protection was granted.

Rodriguez admitted in court that his response when he finally received the permanent order was “it’s just a misdemeanor to violate it.”

Deputy County Attorney Jennifer Quick argued Rodriguez’s claim that mail takes a week to arrive from the prison by pointing out that Rodriguez has filed motions from jail in the past that took two days to reach the court.

She also pointed out that it took Rodriguez eight months to file any paperwork objecting to the way the hearing was handled, and that filing was only after he was charged for a slew of felonies for violating the resulting order.

Rodriguez claimed the delay in filing was because he was unable to conduct research for his defense until he was housed at MSP.

At the end of Wednesday’s proceedings, Judge Elizabeth Best ruled that the court was aware that Rodriguez was incarcerated and should have made more of an effort to gain his presence or continued the hearing until he could be located in the prison system.

“I have a responsibility, however difficult it may be, to enforce the constitution,” she said. “This is not an easy motion to resolve for the court…but what I see plainly is that Mr. Rodriguez…did not have the opportunity to be present or to be heard.”

According to County Attorney Josh Racki, because it was determined Rodriguez was denied due process during the hearing, the restraining order itself is “essentially worthless,” and Rodriguez cannot be charged with violating it.

The 95 charges for violating the order will be dismissed.

Rodriguez is remains incarcerated on a 50-year sentence for sexual intercourse without consent from a 2017 conviction.